The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 11

THE COURIER-JOURNAL MONDAY, MARCH 24, 1997 EDITOR: MARK PROVANO PHONE: 582-4691 FAX: 582-4200 METRO Alhaiit plaits medical tower east of downtown mmmimmmmtmmnji. mKmmmmwrnmmmmmymmmmmmmmmmmmimmmmiirpm dm TV ii Si iniin Two levels will be underground a subbasement and a surgical center above it. The surgical center will have 14 operating rooms for both inpatient and outpatient procedures. The surgical facilities from Norton will move to the new center, Tharp said. The ground floor will have space for surgical-support equipment and staff.

Floors two through seven will be parking, a total of 377 spaces. The eighth and ninth floors will be a conference center, including a large auditorium and rooms for meetings, training and seminars. The existing Norton Hospital has limited conference facilities, Tharp said. Construction on the first 11 levels should be completed by late 1998. Tharp said plans for the upper portion are not final but may include up to nine more floors.

One or more may be used for Norton's spine and neur-oscience center. Most of the rest of the space probably would be leased for doctors' private offices. Tharp said she couldn't provide any cost estimate or schedule for the upper half of the building. Alliant filed an application recently with the Louisville-Jefferson County Planning Commission to bring under proposed new commercial zoning its entire downtown medical campus generally bounded by Jacob Street, Preston Street, Abraham Flexner Way and Interstate 65. The effort is subject to approval by the commission and Board of Aldermen.

The plans for the new medical tower were included in the rezoning New building will complement Norton Hospital By SHELDON S. SHAFER The Courier-Journal Alliant Health System has started construction on a medical tower of up to 18 floors to complement Norton Hospital. The site is near Floyd and Gray streets just east of downtown, where an old parking garage was imploded two years ago. The Alliant board has approved construction of only the first 11 levels, including six floors of parking, a $52 million project, Alliant spokeswoman Charlotte Tharp said. The board is expected to review plans for the top portion of the tower soon, she said.

Alliant operates Norton, Kosair Children's Hospital and the Alliant Medical Pavilion, formerly Methodist Evangelical Hospital. It manages 20 other hospitals in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois and leases Carroll County Hospital in Kentucky. Norton Hospital, which is just north of the medical-tower site and will be connected to the new high rise by either tunnels or pedways, badly needs more space, Tharp said. Substructure work on the tower already has begun. Here's a look at the project from the ground up: Participants in Lightfest carried plastic torches during the "Walk of PHOTOS BY GREG BECKEL, Hope" yesterday evening.

SPECIAL TO THE COURIER-JOURNAL Festival radiates light, hope, dreams and Olympic spirit 4 Roller-coaster Cards give fans one more white-knuckle ride By LESLIE SCANLON The Courier-Journal "If they hadn't dug the hole so deep in the first half Connie Henken shook her head, reality and hope battling in her heart. It was deep in the second half of the Louisville-North Carolina game, and North Carolina was nudging its lead back toward double digits. Like many others at Hoops Grill and Sports Bar in southern Louisville, Henken really hadn't expected her beloved University of Louisville Cardinals to, make it to the Elite Eight, much less to win. "I work with a lot of Kentucky fans," Henken said. "You know, they're supposed to win.

I'm just so Suzanne Dupont kissed her daughter, Brittney, at the Lightfest. More than 200 people gathered for the festival, representing the efforts of 50 Olympic torch-bearers to inspire others. By BILL WOLFE The Courier-Journal Dare to believe, and your dreams may come true. WHAS-TV newscaster Gary Roe-demeier says his stint as an Olympic torch-bearer demonstrates that truth. He had hoped to carry the flame ever since seeing it borne through Memphis, in the 1980s.

When his chance to carry it in Louisville came last year, he seized it. "You could feel the power of the torch. You could feel the heat of the torch," he recalled. "The dream finally came true for me." Fellow torch-bearer Sharon Cecil and her husband, Moody, had a dream fulfilled yesterday the first Lightfest at Churchill Downs, an event that represented the efforts of 50 Olympic torch-bearers to continue the inspiration they felt from participating in the 1996 torch run. "It still overwhelms me that we're here," said Moody Cecil, treasurer of "We Survive," the non-profit group that created Lightfest.

"The people have believed in us and come forward to support us. It's wonderful." More than 200 children and adults gathered for the 2 Ms-hour festival, which was billed as a "day of light and hope." The program, geared primarily for children, included inspirational presentations from Roedemeier, the Cecils, torch-bearer Sarah Bush and professional counselor Sandra Tappan Spalding of Bardstown. Afterward, participants were given sparkling plastic torches for a "Walk of Hope" around the track's infield. And before the program came music, line-dancing, clowns, face-painting and other entertainment. The main message of hope and faith came from presentations by people such as Sharon Cecil, who told the young listeners she hoped they would be "inspired to be whatever you want to be." Bush, a 21-year-old senior at Bel-larmine College, told the youngsters she could identify with their I at the walk last night.

She a distant shot of what appeared to be a covered body. "We got off of it right away," said Simonette, who added that he has told his staff he doesn't want any shots of victims on the air. WHAT WORRIES Dave Lehman, public information officer for the Jefferson County Police, are serious crime situations, such as when a hostage-taker is holed up in a building while a SWAT team is assembling outside. "We don't know if the guy is Farm school A farm in Boyle County is geared toward educating children about animals and farm life. But it has another purpose too: teaching tobacco farmers a thing or two about different approaches to agriculture.

B4 FOR INFORMATION You can contact Moody or Sharon Cecil at 239-4991 in Louisville or (502) 252-8423 in Nelson County. You can write "We Survive Inc." at P.O. Box 91401, Louisville, Ky. 40291 or P.O. Box 67, Bloomfield, Ky.

40008. hopes and fears, because "I'm not all that far from many of your ages." "My school years were filled with doubt," she recalled. "Especially when you are young, there will be a lot of people telling you that you can't succeed." But she urged the listeners to ignore those voices and to believe in themselves. Using songs, dance and poetry, Spalding delivered a message on the importance of expressing feelings not bottling them up. "If you get rid of some of the stuff inside, you'll find yourself more in the light inner light," Spalding said.

Lightfest was organized by "We Survive," an organization dedicated to promoting good health through education, recreation and relaxation. It offers workshops on topics such as self-esteem, stress and time management, surviving adversity and maintaining a positive attitude. The Cecils helped found "We Survive" in 1995 after both had survived cancer and felt a need to help others. They operate it on a 79-acre center in Nelson County. Lightfest was "to let people know that we are real, that we are very sincere in what we are doing," Sharon Cecil said.

The oganization's next dream is to make Lightfest an annual event. And based on the outcome of the first festival, the Cecils are confident about the future. "It sure makes you believe in dreams," Moody Cecil said. "I can tell you that." Could hovering helicopters disturb crime scene evidence? Executives at WAVE, WHAS and WLKY, the three Louisville stations with full-time news copters, agree that increased aerial coverage presents them with new questions. But they say officials have nothing to worry about.

"We try to be very sensitive because we have families too," said Guy Hempel, WAVE general manager. They're not sensitive enough, says Dr. Richard Greathouse, the Jefferson County coroner. He said local stations Flood follow-up When they return home, Paducah flood victims may find some unusual things in their yards, such as dead fish and whiskey bottles. Victims in nine counties can apply for emergency food stamps through tomorrow.

B3 I 1 happy we are where we are." "I didn't think they'd do much in the tournament at all," said Roy Gross, another patron. "Even if they I'll be very proud." Still, this was a team that never made it easy. Just when you thought they couldn't, they'd make another run, tighten it up, get you screaming again. The Cardiac Cards. "I'm going to have to take a mental health day," moaned one fan minutes into the second half, as Louisville whittled away at North Carolina's 21-point halftime lead.

For an instant the impossible seemed possible, as UofL cut the deficit to three points. See ROLLER-COASTER Page 4, col. 1, this section Vaw3L- -MET from around the country discussed helicopter coverage. He said Jefferson County police are reviewing the aerial coverage of a recent bank robbery and shootout in Los Angeles for training purposes. The dramatic helicopter shots were aired on national newscasts.

In New York and Los Angeles, media competition is so intense that some stations keep their helicopters up much of the day, searching for sto- See POLICE Page 6, col. 4, this section INDEX Neighborhood news B2 Weather B2 Road Show B2 Deaths B6 BY GREG BECKEL, SPECIAL TO THE COURIER-JOURNAL Rose Sturgeon reacted with disappointment as she watched the final minutes of Louisville's loss to North Carolina yesterday. TV news helicopters could threaten safety and privacy, police say Leanlsha Cawl, 14, waited for friends had gotten her face painted earlier. have "turned into a bunch of sharks. I've been working with the TV media for the last 22 years, but in the last year or so the competition has really become cutthroat." The coroner's anger erupted after live coverage of the fatal shooting of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff Gregory Hans last week.

"They were close enough to get pictures of the body of that poor man lying there," he said. Nick Simonette, WHAS news director, admitted that when the station's helicopter arrived, the camera caught INSIDE Paramedics and law Paramedics and ambulance providers want state law changed so that they can declare people dead. Without such authority, they often have to choose between trips to a hospital or the risk of being sued. B4 watching TV and knows where our men are placed and what equipment they have," Lehman said. "We realize the media have their job to do but the safety of our men and the hostages comes first." Aaron Graham, press relations officer for the Louisville police, agrees, saying that such situations "have, been a long-term concern of all police agencies.

We would rather not have any of the positions of our officers shown." Lehman recently attended a police institute in Florida where officers River volunteers The Sierra Club is looking for volunteers to help state officials check the condition of the Kentucky River. The idea is to get more people involved in watershed management and to help out the government. B3 By TOM DORSEY The Courier-Journal Louisville's TV stations are using news helicopters to battle for ratings, but police and the Jefferson County coroner are worried that the tactic could jeopardize the public and law-enforcement officers. Would helicopter shots reveal police strategy to a hostage-taker? Will newsroom competition result in live pictures of accident or crime victims, or lead to the untimely disclosure of a victim's identity? Bandstand Grill Plans for a Dick Clark's American Bandstand Grill next to Mall St. Matthews have been scuttled because an ordinance wouldn't allow the restaurant's signs.

The company still would like to build in the Louisville area. B2.